Right, here’s the Stephen ‘family secret’ drama on MAFS UK fully explained

Right now, all anyone who watches MAFS UK 2024 is talking about is a supposed “family secret” Stephen has, that has caused a lot of drama between him and his new bride, Hannah.

The most recent commitment ceremony was all build up for the moment Stephen and Hannah would sit down in front of the experts, and hopefully hash out everything that had gone down between them. That unfortunately didn’t happen, and instead it was a back and forth of the experts asking Hannah to apologise, her insisting she had nothing to apologise for, and Stephen saying an apology wouldn’t be enough anyway. It was… a mess.

Whilst we may never fully know what Stephen’s family secret actually is, here’s everything we know about the drama that is engulfing MAFS UK 2024 at the moment.

Stephen apparently has a ‘family secret’ that he’s been talking about on MAFS UK 2024

On the show, it was said Stephen has a close “family secret” that he shared in confidence with new wife, Hannah. He then said he regretted sharing this with her, as he believed she was going to use it as “ammunition” against him. This conversation was had initially on the couple’s honeymoon, and was spoken about in the context of how committed they each are to the experiment.

Stephen accused his wife of “turning it into The Hannah Show” whilst they were away, which then went on to be the catalyst for bringing up the off-air chat in which he shared his secret.

“You said something off camera and now you’re saying something on camera,” Hannah argued. “You’ve just said you want to talk about all the shit we talked off camera.” Stephen the snapped: “Don’t you dare go down that route!”

Later, he admitted: “I told Hannah something about my family in complete confidence off camera and she was going to use it as ammunition.”

The secret was then brought up again in front of the MAFS UK 2024 experts, who asked Stephen to accept an apology from Hannah, for making him feel as though his confession could be used against him. He didn’t, and said the “secret” in question is too much of a big deal for him to gloss over. We still don’t know what the secret is – other than it sounds pretty huge, and that it involves Stephen’s family life.

Hannah posted a statement doubling down on her comments about not wanting to use Stephen’s ‘secret’ against him

Hannah has been defending herself both on and off screen regarding Stephen and his secret. In a statement on Instagram, the MAFS bride said similar to what she said on the couch, that she “never threatened” to spill anything whilst on the show.

“As you can clearly see/hear. I didn’t break any on/off camera promises. He did. He said things I’d done/ said privately. I didn’t,” she said.  “I never eluded to spilling any ‘secrets’ or personal info about anybody.

“Literally no words left my mouth in any form along those lines. I asked if he would like it if I did it to him as he had just done to me! I then proceeded to walk away to make sure I didn’t say anything else because I didn’t want to treat him how he had just treated me.

“He jumped to that conclusion on his own then used it as what he thought had happened but watching it back I can say categorically with concrete evidence I did not threaten any ‘family secrets’ in any way.”

What do we know about Stephen and his family life before MAFS UK?

Before his time on MAFS UK 2024, Stephen was a Mormon and was married with children. Stephen got married to his ex-wife when he was 18 and ended up joining the Mormon religion as she was a member of the Mormon Church.

However, the couple ended up splitting when Stephen was 25, and he realised he no longer wanted to follow the Mormon lifestyle, and so distanced himself from it. He told Metro: “I was young. I’d like to understand who I am as a partner now I’m 33, and what I can bring to a relationship now that’s maybe different to back then.  I hope to learn about myself on a deeper level.”

Stephen has four children, aged 14, 12, eight and seven. They are all with his former wife, and they had their first baby together in 2010 when Stephen was 19.

The Tab has reached out to Channel 4 for comment. For all the latest MAFS UK 2024 cast member news, scandals, gossip and updates – like The Holy Church of MAFS on Facebook. 

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